Camp Cooking

Real Food That Works for You

There is no better time than now to review a few useful tips to remember when planning your camp menu and your Camp Cooking.

Consider how long your trip will be.

Plan on eating about as much while you’re camping as you eat when you’re at home.

If you’re car camping and you have the extra space, it might not hurt to take a little extra food.

If you’re packing it in, every ounce counts, especially on long hikes. Be sure not to under pack your camping food – the only thing longer than a 20-miler is a 20-miler when you’re hungry. Starving your body while doing rigorous exercise, like hiking, could have adverse affects on your health and don‘t forget to drink plenty of non sugary fluids.

Plan a camping food menu for Camp Cooking

that you’re willing to eat.

Camp Cooking for many people has come to mean granola, oatmeal, and granola. I like them as much as the next guy, but I’m not willing to ruin my week in the woods by packing food I don’t like.

There are many companies now offering a huge selection of dishes, most of them very tasty, which just require water – everything from roast beef and potatoes to tuna casserole.

Don’t discount instant oatmeal and granola as tasty options. Just remember, just because you’re leaving civilization behind doesn’t mean you shouldn’t eat what you like.

Nutrition, nutrition, nutrition.

You’re number one priority when you’re camping should be to have a good time and enjoy nature – something that is difficult to do when you’re sick and exhausted.

Be sure to take camping food with you that will keep you well fed and your energy level up. Energy bars and gels don’t usually weigh a lot and pack a serious nutrition punch, making them great for the trail.

If you don’t cook a lot at home and don’t plan to while you’re camping, do yourself a favor and eat more than candy bars and licorice.

Just about anyone can boil water, so just about anyone can take some prepared camping foods on their trip and eat well.

Switch things up.

If you’ve had the same thing for lunch for the last 20 years, ignore this paragraph.

For the rest us, variety is important when planning for Camp Cooking food.

Put small amounts of different seasonings in plastic baggies – lemon pepper trout is delicious.

Even if you’re going to eat oatmeal three meals a day for a week, at the very least take different flavors of oatmeal. Or Cream of Wheat.

The price is right.

It is possible to eat well when you’re camping on a tight budget. Instant oatmeal, granola bars, and pancake mix don’t usually cost very much and fill you up. Hamburger helper makes for a pretty nutritious, economic camping meal – you’ll need to make sure you have all the ingredients.

Substitute powder milk for regular milk, and be sure to add enough water to make the milk and the recipe. You can even try some of the soy milk, rice milk or almond milk packaged and don‘t have the same refrigeration needs as regular milk.

We’ve even discovered meat analog substitutes for hot dogs and burgers. I even use one for hamburger when making taco filling or burritos, just mix in packaged taco seasoning, even works great for spaghetti sauce or sloppy joes. If they’re new to you, try different brands at home before your next trip so you’ll know what to expect.

Go high tech. Prices on freeze dried and packaged camping food are becoming very reasonable.

For less than what you would pay for it in a restaurant, you can have you’re favorite dishes – and I doubt the restaurant can compete with the view you’ll have when you’re camping or hiking . It may be a little more expensive than doing it on your own, but what prepackaged camping foods save you in time, energy, and taste more than makes up for the money.

Light Weight Camping/Adventure Food.

Author: Donald Vanderlugt

Before venturing upon your next great adventure into the wilds you may wish to do some organizing and testing/research and find some tasty lightweight foods to take along to keep the weight down to a minimum ,whether you are planning a canoeing/kayaking or bike hike or just a trek to your favourite special place , there is no need to carry unneeded excess weight and packaging.

There are plenty of options available and before deciding upon certain types it is best to try the tastes as some lightweight foods can be very ordinary in taste especially in bulk amounts,a little bit is ok but too much can be .........yuk! So taste and try before you decide to take these foods along,otherwise this is a good food source to have on-the-go without cooking or even as a snack in the boat or on top of that mountain.

Dehydrated foods have been around for a long time and can be easily found in the local supermarket; things like carrots, peas, beans, potatoes; you could even have some in your cupboard at home.

Versatile dried fruits are my favourites,such as; raisins, dates, apricots, sultanas,and dried apples are the perfect snack.

Premade packaged meals can be a useful take along and so can vacuum sealed/cooked fish [salmon etc.], just be kind with the rubbish.

Nuts are great; almonds,peanuts and best of all cashews.

Beef jerky is really yum and addictive and you can get a hot variety as well.So make sure you have plenty of water handy if you decide you want to burn your faced off !

Noodles are an old favourite although the styrene containers are a worry to dispose of in the middle of nowhere,because you cannot just leave this rubbish behind anywhere.

Powdered milk is an aquired taste for that caffeine hit or cup of tea; although if weight is not a problem, long life milk is handy and comes in skim as well. Powdered orange and sports drinks can add a change too.

Freeze dried foods can be helpful and could be freeze dried chicken , lasagna , corn and pasta and come in good sturdy packaging.

Health food shops stock a massive selection of dried foods and muesli bars and other interesting bars of peanuts/ nuts/ honey/ carob etc; that pack well in your backpack.

Specialty items are more difficult to find at particular stockists that carry army type foods like dried eggs and things that are designed to last a long time and take little space andcan get wet if a canoe/ camping adventure is planned.

Storage of these items is very important and sturdy good quality re-sealable plastic bags are ideal as they can be recycled and used again and will keep the rubbish to an absolute minimum; the food can be sorted into day lots or groups and a master bag can keep them together and catch any possible spillage.Plastic bags can be packed into nooks and crannies to maximise space with no hard or sharp edges to worry about in your backpack.

Before packing; get rid of any surplus packaging so you don't carry rubbish all over the countryside Hoping you can find this article of use and happy camping!.


Get out and enjoy the great outdoors.

Whether you’re camping, backpacking or hiking, fishing, , or just hanging out at the beach or in the woods for the weekend, with a little planning and by following these tips for Camp Cooking, I’m confident you and you’re taste buds will have the experience of a lifetime.

Check out our "Recipe" section on this website.

Author: Pat Hogle

My family, friends, and I love camping and camp all summer long. I usually end up the one who does most of the cooking. While I love to do this, I have learned some tips that have helped me along the way.

1. Be prepared and have a backup plan for those rainy days.

I learned this lesson on a camping trip where it down poured everyday of our trip. I thought I had done a great job planning every meal. Unfortunately, almost all of my meals included a dish that needed to be cooked. Not to mention we really had no other place to eat but the tent. With the rain and nothing "good" to eat, everyone was miserable.

What I learned from this experience is to always have some food that is already prepared and is easy to eat while sitting in a tent.

Some foods that I make sure I am never without while camping include: pop tarts, cheese and crackers, ingredients for sandwiches, fruits and vegetables (either fresh or dried), trail mix, granola bars. For drinking, juice boxes are a nice alternative for children. They are harder to spill while eating in a tent.

2. Cooking and storing chicken is easier if thechicken is parboiled before your trip.

What better way to eat chicken than cooked over a campfire. Sounds good but you need to be careful how you store and cook raw chicken. I have found that it is much easier to bring chicken along when it is parboiled at home. This eliminates the need to store it in a separate cooler. No more drippy raw chicken juices all over the bottom of your ice chest. Also, the chicken only needs to be reheated. No more worrying whether the chicken is cooked thoroughly.

From a cook's point of view, this makes life while camping much more pleasurable.

3. Bring oven mitts or potholders. I could not tell you how many times I forgot the potholders and I have the scars to prove it. I went out and bought the silicone oven mitts. Most of the silicone mitts can withstand temperatures up to 550 degrees. These are also great for doing anything around the camp fire: adding wood, roasting marshmallows, and putting out the fire to name a few.

4.Lighters or matches.
I guess this would be a matter of how you are camping or what you prefer. I prefer to use the long handled lighters rather than matches. I find it is easier to light either a fire or your charcoal with a lighter. I can control the lighter better and you don't have to worry as much about a lighter getting damp.